Virtual universes or virtual worlds are computer-based simulated environments intended for its users or residents to inhabit and interact via avatars, which are personas or representations of the users of the virtual universes. These types of virtual universes are now most common in massively multiplayer online games such as Second Life®, which is a trademark of Linden Research Inc. in the United States. Avatars in these types of virtual universes, which can number well over a million, have a wide range of business and social experiences.
Many regions within a virtual universe contain complex environments with a large number of objects. Prior art virtual universes only cache items attached to or worn by an avatar, or items located within a predefined proximity of the avatar. As is known in the art, avatars may teleport to new regions within the virtual universe, often at the request or notification of another user. Because the new region(s) to which the avatar transports is not within the predefined proximity, an avatar who accepts a request to transport must wait while objects in the new region are downloaded and rendered. This may not provide an optimal experience, as most users do not like to wait for downloading and rendering.